Mobile Photographer Interview – A Day In The Life Of Gina Costa – An Outstanding, Talented and Compassionate Mobile Photographer

Welcome to our very exciting interview column on theappwhisperer.com. This section entitled “A Day in the Life of…” is where we take a look at some hugely influential, interesting and accomplished individuals in the mobile photography and art world… people that we think you will love to learn more about. This is our ninety eighth installment of the series. If you have missed our previous interviews, please go here.

Today we are featuring Gina Costa; Gina began making photographs as a teenager capturing the visual beauty and dramatic landscape of the Italian village where her father was born and lived. It’s also where Gina grew up and where her heart is. She now lives in Chicago and returns home quite regularly. Gina’s interest in capturing the mountains of the Appennino Reggiano (Northern Central Italy) drove her fascination with image making. That location, with the stunning panorama and charming rural life was where her early aesthetic was born. Gina continues to take the same photographs of the same mountains, the same people but always with a new more focused lens.

Gina’s love of the photographic image and her work in teaching Art History and curatorial and museum work, as well as writing about art and photography, enabled her to explore various strategies and approaches to the medium. Gina’s interest in using the iPhone for the past three years has developed from her previous work with Lomography and other low-tech analog practices. She still uses her Nikon analog (film camera and her Nikon DSLR from time to time but now feels that the iPhone best suits her current interest in street photography as well as other genres.

Gina has worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Art Institute of Chicago; Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester NY, and has taught Art History at a variety of universities. Consequently, works of art surround her in her daily life.

We couldn’t wait to find out more about Gina and invited her to take part in this interview. We think you will all enjoy this a lot, it’s full of fabulous images and wonderful words.

You can find all the links to the apps used or mentioned at the end of this article. (If you would like to be interviewed for our new ‘A Day in the Life of…’ section, send an email to Joanne@theappwhisperer.com, and we’ll get back to you.)

Gina Costa

Espresso pot! In the tradition of a true Italian–I cannot do a thing until I have had my morning espresso. Strong and two cups! Then when my mind is properly caffeinated I begin to think about the visual world. As an art historian and museum curator, my life has always resided in the visual world. I might even say that I see the world either through a picture frame or a viewfinder. I have been like that since a teenager, much to the sometime annoyance of family and friends. By the finish of my second espresso I am roaming Flickr, EyeEm and Facebook’s photo-groups to see what beautiful images, interviews, and tutorials have been shared. I also set an overall guideline or goal for the day for a photo project: something to shoot, learn, improve upon. I carry that project with me in my pocket all day, and it keeps me creative and inspired.

How did the transition from traditional photographer to mobile photographer develop? (Pardon the pun).

It was a most serendipitous move indeed! From traditional photography I became interested in very low-tech image-making. The work of one South African photographer inspired me to explore this. I became involved in Lomography and other low-tech, analog techniques. I still play with my Lomo LCA (I treasure this camera for many reasons) and my Holga. One day, about three years ago, I saw a Hipstamatic image made by a friend in Italy on his Facebook page. The effects the app created haunted me, and when I discovered it was done with the Hipstamatic app, I immediately was a convert to what I could do with apps and mobile technology. The rest is history!

Yes I do. However I am mindful I may be a little bit of an “app hoarder” (confess everyone — are we not all, a bit??) I regularly read the tutorials and interviews on theappwhisperer, this inspires me to purchase the apps mentioned in those pieces and try them out.

I wish I had more time to be able to use all the apps with agility and complete knowledge. I am hoping this year to be more diligent in discovering these wonderful tools at my fingertips!

Whenever the updates are announced. That is to say, I update everything from the app store daily as part of my quotidian cleaning out and updating routine! If not, this all get overwhelming and out of control!

What are your favourite photography apps and why, what features do you look for in a new photo app?

As I mentioned. I began with and still am loyal to the Hipstamatic classic app. I do use Oggl sometimes, but my natural reflex is Hipstamatic. I use mostly Snapseed, Blender, Juxtaposer, Procreate, Distress Fx ,and ScratchCam for editing. My new years resolution is to learn a few more apps I purchased months/years ago that just sit there on my devices! I have been spending time reading tutorials or interviews with some of the mobile artists I admire most, to get a sense of what apps they find work for them. I am not one who creates sophisticated images that are highly apped and have a painterly feel to them. So, logically I do not tend to use those apps. I see myself as a more classically oriented image-maker, that is to say, the images I generate are heavily influenced by my career as an art historian. The burden/joy of the weight of photo history clearly informs my images.

Big city streets! I love the energy and the vibe of the city street. I love the multiple and simultaneously told stories captured on the city streets! If anything, I am a street-mobile artist. Is that a term? Also, I love the seductive still-life-like stillness of the American Midwestern landscape. My images straddle these two very differently felt terrains.

I love to capture the people on the streets, to illicit the stories and narratives of their lives and that of the human condition. I have been working on a series about women lately, and the condition of the modern Western woman. I have leaked a few of these images to the public…but am hesitant to show the full series, as I want the context of the narratives to be clear.

Where do you like to upload your photographs to – Flickr, Instagram etc?

Flickr, EyeEm, Facebook mostly. I never use instagram . I have a blogspot that is woefully out of date. I am planning on recasting and updating this to be more aligned with how I feel my work is moving forward.

Absolutely. Every morning, as I carefully plan out my wretchedly busy day, I also plan what where I will be that might be good content for taking pictures. I try to work in a series as much as possible these days, and plan which camera (Tadaa, Camera +, Oggl, Hipstamatic, etc) I should use most that day. I also think about the newest apps, or lenses/film combos if using Hipstamatic or Oggl. I tentatively outline projects for the day, to inter-splice between curating, teaching, and everything else!

Where do you envisage your mobile photography passion will take you? Have you been involved with exhibitions etc? Please elaborate if you can.

This is an excellent question, which I thank many of us are quietly (or perhaps not so quietly) talking about. Where is this medium taking us? Recently I recently read a critic’s opinion that essentially stated that generating images with mobile phones is akin to what one does with a point and shoot camera, and light as less of a critical element of the image making process (not necessarily true! What is “auto” on an SLR??) it is not “photography”. Really, so, what is it? How do you define what is a photograph? I believe that mobile phones have redefined image-making for the 21st century. Critics who do not acknowledge this are short-sighted. I teach my students in my history of photography classes that mobile photography IS photography, and part of the history of that discourse.

I see the image generated with any mobile device to be a “photograph”. (I hope everyone reading this interview also agrees, if not, please join me for an espresso/aperitvo, so I may convince you!)

Yes, my images have been in several (brick and mortar) gallery exhibitions in the past few years. (Chicago, Charleston, Portland, Vermont) I am currently working on a project for a collaborative installation in Brooklyn later this year. My images, and the work of a musician and short story writer’s works will be presented in a gallery showing. I am very honored to be a part of this project. I am also working on a body of work that I prefer not to say much about here, about the perceived domestic lives of women.

I have noted a bifurcation in the community, which I find very interesting and aligns with their professional lives in many way. Some photographers are apping their images, while retaining the essence of the subject matter. Another group is apping their content to create works which are more “paintings” than they are photographs. I would define these two camps as the “painterly group” and the “photographer group”. This is not setting up to be a conflict of any sorts, but rather a natural evolution based on the motivations of the individual artist. I do not see myself in the painterly group. I see this bifurcation as a natural development of the medium and a great thing!

See my comment above: I see two divergent tendencies forming. In one camp I observe”street photography” to be a bit more prevalent recently. Where as “landscapes” and “fantasy” seem to be also very popular.

In the other camp I see wonderful painterly abstractions and some very dark, brooding heavily masked/apped images being created. All very talented artists.

I want to thank Joanne and theappwhisperer.com for giving me the opportunity to share some of my modest views on mobile photography and this movement. I also want to note that without all the indispensable tutorials, news updates, interviews, and showcases, I cannot imagine where this community would be. It is because of all these, I believe the movement is evolving in a robust, meaningful direction. Thank you Joanne!

Oh shoot, I typed a comment here and there was a hiccup and now it’s gone. Anyways, Gina, you know I’m a huge fan of yours; both in your artistic ability and in you as a person. Many congrats to all your well deserved successes! Btw, your image “In Today’s WSJ” is amazing! I had never seen it before and I love it! xoxo

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